Seismic shift in F1 on the way as 2026 technical regulations in jeopardy: Reports

F1 fans have often urged the sport to go back to the era of screaming V10s, but the championship has continued to be run on V6 engines since the introduction of the turbo-hybrid era. However, with the 2026 engine regulations having a hanging sword over it, the case for the V10 engines making a return in the following engine cycle has soared recently according to reports.

V10 engines swarmed the F1 grid for almost two decades. However, the 2006 engine regulations saw them being phased out by V8 engines. This trend of downsizing the engines continued into 2014 when the FIA and F1 aimed to make the sport more sustainable.

This saw the return of the V6 engines to the grid with the addition of the hybrid side of engines. However, this change led to a subsequent reduction in the noise created by the power units, which drove some fans away from the sport.

Despite this, the 2026 engine regulations were supposed to increase the power split in favor of the electrical side to 50:50. But, this change has coincided with the engines running on 100 percent sustainable fuel, and caused the debate for bigger engines to spark up in the paddock.

Now, the debacle has turned into a formal admission by the FIA as its single-seater director, Nikolas Tombazis revealed the possibility of the V10 engines making a return around 2028, and said:

"The world economy does lead to views that maybe we should try to cut costs a bit more, and the current power units are way too expensive. That is a fact. We would like them to be cheaper, and that's why the president made the comments about the V10 engine in ‘28 and so on."

“If there was ever any such decision, what would happen in the intervening period we'd have to see. But we would never unilaterally change something and impose something without full discussion. We don't want to impose anything that would make it impossible to compete, or anything like that," he added.

On the other hand, paddock chatter has looked over the possibility of stopping the development of the new V6 engines altogether if they are going to be phased out in the next two or three years.

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Team principals give their take on the possibility of V10s returning in F1

Zak Brown (L) and Christian Horner (R) at the F1 Grand Prix Of China - Source: Getty

With everyone discussing the idea of ending the new V6 engine development cycle, some serious questions were posed to the grid. Audi does not have an engine that is made in adherence with the current regulations and would make its efforts go in vain.

Subsequently, when asked about the new engine regulations being scrapped and waiting for the teams to move to the new possible V10 engines, Red Bull's Christian Horner said (via Crash.net):

"We've ended up in a situation where the chassis is having to compensate a huge amount for perhaps some of the shortcomings of the split in electrification and combustion. But, it's sort of ten past midnight and Cinderella's left the building."

McLaren Racing CEO Zak Brown shared his thoughts on the matter, and said:

"Logistically, I'm not sure how you put the genie back in the bottle. But from our standpoint, we're with HPP, very happy."

Despite the concerns, fans and people within the paddock are trying for the V10 engines to make a return on the F1 grid.